The wind rolled over the cliffs like a living breath, cold and dry, scraping the tall grasses that crowned the highland basin just beyond the Academy's territory. Below, the crumbling shape of an old outpost slumbered—half-swallowed by time, vines, and dirt.
Karl adjusted the straps of his shoulder pack and narrowed his eyes.
"This is the ruin?"
Beside him, Aeris Valea checked a floating glyph-map, its edges glowing softly in the overcast light.
"Not marked on any official record. Only recently discovered when a mage stumbled into an unstable mana vein during solo training."
Karl glanced down at the broken stone arches.
"Convenient."
"Or planned."
Raiven stirred in Karl's shadow, tail flicking.
"This place smells old. Too old for the Academy to be unaware."
The mission had been simple: investigate the newly uncovered ruins and determine the source of the strange magical pulses detected days prior.
Why the Academy sent only two students—Karl and Aeris—wasn't spoken aloud.
But both knew why.
They wanted to see what would happen.
Two students. Two high-ranked Soulbinds.
And one of them… carrying a dragon.
They descended slowly.
The closer they got to the ruins, the stronger the pressure became. Not suffocating, but strange. Like walking through air charged with lightning, but just before the storm breaks.
A pillar jutted from the ground—old stone etched with weathered runes.
Karl stopped in front of it.
The Veil mark on his chest pulsed once.
Then again.
Aeris noticed the shift.
"It's resonating with you."
"Yeah." Karl's voice was quiet.
"It feels… like recognition."
Aeris knelt beside the pillar and ran her fingers across the grooves.
"These aren't modern runes. They predate the Empire. Possibly even the Vanished Era."
Karl stepped closer, and as his hand brushed the side of the pillar—
A burst of violet energy shimmered through the lines.
His mark ignited faintly beneath his tunic.
The ground beneath them trembled.
"Move!"
Aeris grabbed his wrist and yanked him backward just as a sinkhole cracked open at their feet.
They hit the ground hard, dust spraying around them.
A moment later, a deep echo rumbled from below.
"Well," Karl said with a cough, "I think we found something."
"Or something found us."
They peered into the sinkhole.
Below, faint glyphs pulsed on the walls of a buried structure. It wasn't just a ruin.
It was sealed.
Deliberately.
With a leap, Karl dropped down, his boots crunching against loose stone. Aeris followed a moment later, landing with far more grace.
"This isn't a burial site," she murmured.
"It's a vault."
They walked carefully through the darkness, Karl lighting the way with a faint orb of Veillight.
As the tunnel opened into a large chamber, Raiven whispered from Karl's side.
"Careful. Something here breathes. It hasn't in ages… but it knows you're near."
Karl slowed.
In the center of the chamber stood a large circular platform, similar in size and shape to the one in the Arcanum Depth. But older. Worn.
A pattern was carved into it.
Wings.
Not birdlike.
Dragon wings.
Karl stepped onto the platform.
The moment his foot touched the center, the glyphs lit in a dull crimson glow.
The mark on his chest flared in sync.
And from the walls—
A low growl echoed.
"We're not alone," Aeris said, drawing her mana into her palm.
From the shadows, a shape emerged.
Tall. Lithe. Reptilian.
A beast half-formed, its body twisted from centuries of mana exposure. Its eyes burned with crimson light, but its mouth bore no sound—only a hiss like shattering glass.
Karl stepped forward, Raiven half-manifested beside him.
"Bound creature?"
Aeris narrowed her gaze.
"Something left behind to guard the seal."
The creature lunged.
Karl met it first, blade out in a flash, parrying the claws as Raiven surged forward in a storm of shadow and fang.
Behind him, Aeris unleashed a flurry of radiant lances from her palm—each strike finding gaps in the beast's hide.
But it didn't fall.
"Too strong for a corrupted guardian," Aeris shouted. "It's feeding off something!"
Karl's mark pulsed again—painfully this time.
"It's drawing from me!"
Raiven snarled.
"Then cut the connection before it turns your own mana against you!"
Karl raised his hand and focused.
The air twisted. The platform flared.
A pillar of flame erupted from his palm—dragonflame, but controlled, chained.
It struck the beast full-force.
It screamed—a sound that vibrated the air and shattered nearby stones.
And then…
Silence.
It crumpled.
Ash.
Karl dropped to one knee, panting, his chest burning. The mark slowly dimmed.
Aeris was already at his side, hand on his back, her own breathing steady but alert.
"You alright?"
Karl nodded slowly.
"Yeah… that was new."
"The flame?"
"No. The fact that I didn't lose control."
Raiven stepped beside them, solid now, his form tall and looming.
"He's adapting. The dragon no longer fights him for dominance in moments like this."
Aeris studied Karl quietly.
Then turned toward the platform.
"These ruins… they weren't just meant to be hidden. They were meant to be remembered when someone like you arrived."
"You think the Academy knew?"
"I think someone at the top knows more than they're saying."
As they made their way back to the surface, Aeris walking beside him, her tone shifted.
"You handled yourself well."
Karl raised a brow.
"Was that a compliment?"
She smirked. "Don't let it get to your head."